Shoe-polishing implement



Oct. 7, 1958 E. E. STElNBR ECHER 2,854,685

SHOE-POLISHING IMPLEMENT Filed Oct. 7, 1953 has n I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I n I w IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII m mm w m? m E B A s u E United States Patent SHOE-POLISHING IMPLEMENT Elisabeth lE. Steinbrecher, Berlin-Steglitz, Germany Application October 7, 1953, Serial No. 384,679 1 Claim. (Cl. 15-209) The present invention relates to shoe-polishing implements and, more particularly, to a shoe-polishing implement having a hollow support, preferably of elliptical longitudinal section, around which there is wound a strip of polishing cloth so as to form a plurality of layers around said support.

With shoe-polishing implements of this type, it has heretofore been customary to fasten said strip of cloth by means of rubber rings to two spaced portions of said support which portions are located at the ends of said support so as not to interfere with the polishing area of the cloth layers. However, the elasticity of said rubber rings is lost in a relatively short time so that after one or more layers of polishing cloth have worn out and are cut oif to expose the respective unused layer underneath, the new or unused layers are not any longer firmly held against said support. In other words they hang loosely around said support and cannot be properly used whereby the implement loses its usefulness.

Furthermore, depending on the size of the implement even when the two rubber rings at the end of the implement still possess sufiicient elasticity to hold the adjacent portions of the layers in firm connection with the support, the central portions of the layers between the two rubber rings may be somewhat loose and at any rate are not taut.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a shoe-polishing implement of the above mentioned type which will overcome the drawbacks referred to above.

It is another object of this invention to provide a shoepolishing implement which has associated therewith means adapted under all circumstances to hold the layers of polishing cloth in firm connection with the support or body of the shoe-polishing implement and in taut condition without interfering with the polishing surface of said layers.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a shoe-polishing implement as set forth in the preceding paragraph which is so designed as to prevent any accidental movement of the means holding the layers in taut condition.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a shoepolishing implement of the above referred to type which will make it possible to fasten the layers of polishing cloth all around the support or carrying body for said layers without interfering with the effective polishing surface of said layers.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 represents a side view of a shoe-polishing implement according to the present invention, said view being seen in the direction of the arrow A, however with the brush adjacent said arrow removed from the implement.

Fig. 2 is a top view of the shoe-polishing implement shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side view of a clasp in unfolded or stretchedout position for use in connection with the shoe-polishing implement of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section taken along the line IV--IV of Fig. 1 but on a slightly larger scale than that of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a top view of a cloth layer slightly different from the cloth layer visible in Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 shows a portion of a supporting body for the cloth layers which is somewhat modified'over the supporting body shown in Fig. 1.

General arrangement According to the present invention, the superimposed layers of the strip of cloth are firmly and in taut condition held against a preferably resilient support by means of clasps which can easily be pressed together by hand and will stay in their respective bent condition. Thus, when worn out or used up layers of polishing cloth are removed from the implement and, therefore, the remaining layers of cloth have more space in the clasps and become loose, a slight bending pressure on the end portions of the clasps is all that is necessary to eliminate the excess space of the remaining layers of cloth in said clasps and again firmly to connect said layers to said support.

The clasps are advantageously arranged at spaced portions of the supporting body outside the effective surface of the polishing cloth. To this end, when using a supporting body of oval shape, the clasps are mounted at the ends of said body.

In order to make it possible to hold the cloth layers taut around the entire body, in other words also to provide further clasps in addition to the mentioned clasps at the ends of the supporting body, without interfering with the effective polishing surface of the polishing cloth, the supporting body may be provided with depressions into which the layers are drawn by a clasp which latter is thus set back with regard to the effective polishing surface of said cloth. If desired, such depressions may also be provided at the ends of the supporting body for the respective clasps located at said ends. Such depressions have the further advantage that any accidental movement of the clasps will be impossible which movement might otherwise cause the clasps to produce scratches on the surface to be polished.

Another way according to the present invention of holding the clasps in proper position and securing the same against accidental sliding consists in providing the ends of the implement with beveled surfaces and bending the clasps around said beveled surfaces.

Structural arrangement Referring now to the drawing in detail and Figs. 1, 2 and 4 thereof in particular, the shoe-polishing implement illustrated therein comprises a hollow supporting body made up of a strong cardboard layer 1 having mounted thereon a layer of corrugated paper 2. Said cardboard layer and corrugated paper layer are provided with a slot (not shown in the drawing) similar to the slot in film spools of cameras into which one end of the strip of polishing cloth 3 is to be threaded. By insertion of a small piece of paper, cardboard, or the like, said last mentioned end of the cloth 3 is firmly held in said slot so that the cloth 3 can be properly wound around the body as shown in Fig. 1. The polishing cloth 3 itself may consist of any suitable standard material and does not form a part of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 2, the end faces of the supporting body are beveled at 4 and 5 and clasps 6 are bent around said beveled portions while clamping the cloth 3 around said beveled portions in firm contact with the adjacent portion of the body 1, 2

as is clearly shown in Fig. 1 and 2. In this way an accidental displacement of the clasps is made impossible for all practical purposes. It will also be seen that the location of the clasps 6 does not interfere with the effective polishing surface of the cloth 3 between the points C-D and E-F.

If desired, additional clasps may be placed between the portions C and D and the portions E and F. However, in such an instance the portion of the body Where such additional clasps are to be mounted has to be slightly modified over the body of Fig. l in the manner shown in Fig. 6. More specifically with regard to Fig. 6 it will be seen that the supporting body is provided with a depression 12 into which the cloth 3 is drawn by the clasp 6 as is clearly visible from Fig. 6. The depression is of such depth that after the clasp 6 has been applied it is sufiiciently set back with regard to the effective polishing surface of the cloth so that the clasp can under no circumstances touch the surface to be polished which in Fig. 6 is indicated by the reference numeral 13.

It is, of course, understood that if desired the Fig. 6 arrangement may also be provided at the ends of the supporting body.

The shoe-polishing implement according to the present invention is operated in the customary manner by moving the same back and forth over the surface to be polished. After the respective outer layer of the polishing cloth has worn out or has absorbed so much polish that its usefulness is lost, the outer layer is torn or cut off so that the layer immediately underneath is exposed. The excess space left within the clasps by the removal of the worn-out outer layer is then eliminated by a slight manual pressure on the clasp ends so that the clasps again firmly press the remaining layers against the sup port and hold said layers in taut condition. The clasps are so designed that they will stay in whatever condition they have been bent. Such clasp may for instance be made up in the manner illustrated in Fig. 3. More specifically the clasp shown in Fig. 3 comprises a serpentine-like wire 7 which is covered by paper 6, cloth or the like. Of course, the clasp may also consist of a metal band adapted to be bent and to stay in whatever condition it has been bent.

The hollow supporting body 1, 2 which has been shown in Fig. l to consist of cardboard and corrugated paper may, of course, be also made of other resilient material such as plastic or the like. The hollow supporting body 1, 2 may, if so desired receive two brushes 8, 8a which are introduced into the hollow body from the side thereof and are held therein by mere press fit. If desired the space between the brushes may be used for storing shoe polish, shoe powder, laces and the like.

In order to protect the edges of the polishing cloth from wear or from fraying, these edges may be processed or stitched according to any standard procedure so as to provide a protective edging (see Fig. 5).

It is, of course, understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular constructions described above in connection with the accompanying drawings but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A shoe-polishing implement comprising in combination: a hollow supporting body made of corrugated card board and having a substantially oval longitudinal section, a strip of polishing cloth wound around said supporting body in a spiral manner in a plurality of layers, the end face portions of said hollow body being provided with beveled edge portions, and clasp means respectively extending around said beveled portions toward the inside of said hollow body with the ends of said clasp means exposed inside said hollow body and accessible from the outside of said hollow body, said clasp means being bendable to a variable degree from the inside of said hollow body and the outside of the respective outer layer of the polishing cloth for clamping the adjacent cloth portions tightly between said clasp means and the adjacent portions of said hollow body and maintaining said adjacent cloth portions in the respective clamped position in conformity with the varying number of layers of cloth on said hollow body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 352,170 Wales Nov. 9, 1886 774,380 Cutter Nov. 8, 1904 2,108,741 Betner Feb. 15, 1938 2,428,339 Quinn Sept. 30, 1947 2,479,634 Marques Aug. 23, 1949 2,599,095 Daniel et al. June 3, 1952 2,607,097 Lingner Aug. 19, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 14,567 Australia Oct. 3, 1933 140,140 Germany Apr. 15, 1903 205,708 Switzerland Ian. 2, 1940 459,921 Great Britain July 16, 1936 832,475 Germany Feb. 25, 1952 

